1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to detergent supply apparatus. More, specifically, the invention relates to a detergent supply apparatus in which powdery detergent is stored. The detergent supply apparatus is attached to a washing machine, and dispenses a proper amount of the detergent into the washing machine.
2. Description of the prior art
Detergent supply apparatus for supplying powdery detergent to a washing machine have been developed. However, a desirable detergent supply apparatus has not been available previously.
An example of a detergent supply apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 50-152340 (Patent Publication No. 54-43827) filed Dec. 20, 1975, and entitled DETERGENT SUPPLY DEVICE CAPABLE OF SUPPLYING FIXED AMOUNT FOR WASHING MACHINE. This prior art shows a detergent supply device having a hopper compartment in which powdery detergent is stored. The detergent supply device also includes a storage compartment in which the detergent from the hopper compartment is stored temporarily. The storage compartment receives a fixed amount of the detergent from the hopper compartment, and then discharges all the detergent therein into the washing machine in response to activation of the machine by a user. This device may dispense a fixed amount of the powdery detergent into the washing machine. However, since the powdery detergent in the hopper and storage compartments is exposed to moisture and water vapor within the washing machine, the powdery detergent is apt to cake during storage.
The above-described detergent supply device has no effective solution to solve the problem described above.
Another example of a detergent supply apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 39-23280 (Patent Publication No. 42-18769) filed Apr. 23, 1964, and entitled AUTOMATIC DETERGENT DISPENSER. In this prior art, a screw member is used to act as a detergent convey mechanism. The screw member is rotated by an impeller. The impeller is driven by the water which is fed to the washing machine. Therefore, a proper amount of detergent corresponding to the amount of water fed to the washing machine may be supplied to the washing machine.
According to this prior art, the powdery detergent is agitated, and then is broken down by the screw member during the conveyance by the screw member.
Thus, the detergent dispenser described above may supply the washing machine with the powdery detergent more smoothly as compared with the prior art previously described.
In this prior art, however, since there is a great possibility that a fair amount of the detergent may adhere on the surface of the screw member, the detergent dispenser also may not achieve a desirable result. Furthermore, it is not easy to remove the detergent adhered on the surface of the screw member because of the complicated configuration of the screw member. Therefore, this result causes the detergent to further accumulate on the surface of the screw member.